Learning to teach primary geography in the context of school placement: lessons from an all-Ireland study

Teaching education is Ireland is currently undergoing significant structural and conceptual changes. School placement is at the centre of these reforms. This article reports the findings of an all-Ireland study which investigates student teachers’ experiences of teaching geography during their school placements. Based on data collected from surveys and focus group interviews with one cohort of B.Ed. students, this study illustrates the emotional journey of school placement, emerging identities as teacher, the positive impact of initial teacher education, the problematic nature of messages from ‘third parties’ and conflicting conceptualisations of geography. The findings of this study are important for student teachers and teacher educators as they illustrate the complexity of school placement and the importance of emotional as well as cognitive engagement.     

Evaluating Discipline-Based Education Research for Promotion and Tenure

Discipline-based education research (DBER) is an emergent, interdisciplinary field of scholarship aimed at understanding and improving discipline-specific teaching and learning. The number of DBER faculty members in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) departments has grown rapidly in recent years. Because the interdisciplinary nature of DBER involves social science, senior STEM faculty members may find it challenging to evaluate the quality or impact of DBER scholarship. This essay aims to address this issue by providing guidance on evaluating the scholarly accomplishments of DBER faculty members in a way that is useful to departmental colleagues and administrators during the tenure and promotion evaluation process.     

Beyond muscle: the effects of creatine supplementation on brain creatine,cognitive processing,and traumatic brain injury

Abstract

The ergogenic and therapeutic effects of increasing muscle creatine by supplementation are well-recognized. It appears that similar benefits to brain function and cognitive processing may also be achieved with creatine supplementation, however research in this area is more limited, and important knowledge gaps remain. The purpose of this review is to provide a comprehensive overview of the current state of knowledge about the influence of creatine supplementation on brain function in healthy individuals. It appears that brain creatine is responsive to supplementation, however higher, or more prolonged dosing strategies than those typically used to increase muscle creatine, may be required to elicit an increase in brain creatine. The optimal dosing strategy to induce this response, is currently unknown, and there is an urgent need for studies investigating this. When considering the influence of supplementation strategies on cognitive processes, it appears that creatine is most likely to exert an influence in situations whereby cognitive processes are stressed, e.g. during sleep deprivation, experimental hypoxia, or during the performance of more complex, and thus more cognitively demanding tasks. Evidence exists indicating that increased brain creatine may be effective at reducing the severity of, or enhancing recovery from mild traumatic brain injury, however, only limited data in humans are available to verify this hypothesis, thus representing an exciting area for further research.     

Establishing a University's Undergraduate Engineering Laboratories in View of its Interaction with the Community

The basic roles of undergraduate engineering laboratories are usually stated in terms of how the laboratory experience serves the student. To these roles another is added: the continuing professional development of the faculty members. This added role gives great emphasis to laboratories concerned with new and developing topics in the discipline and moving the laboratory towards the ‘hands-on’ type of curriculum. This eventually will lead to more practice-oriented graduates.

To serve this added role, three main interactive factors should be involved; the appropriate development of the engineering laboratory, its practical touch with the surrounding engineering organisations in community, and realisation of involved individuals and their willingness to participate in this role. A case study was investigated in the State of Qatar to find the effect of these interactive factors in the development of engineering laboratories at Qatar University. Two different questionnaires were administered to two groups. The first was the faculty members supervising engineering laboratories at the university. The second group involved engineers in various administrative posts in both private and public sectors in Qatar.

The results of these questionnaires are presented in this paper. The analysis of these results reflected the essence of the added role. The surveyed groups showed awareness and willingness to participate in a co-operation programme to enhance that role. However, the survey revealed, in general, a lack of effective channels of communication and inadequate university laboratory facilities. That could lead, according to the survey, to a limited co-operation programme between the university's engineering laboratories and engineering organisations in the community.     

A Follow‐up Evaluation of a Transition Class Program for Children with School and Learning Readiness Problems

In response to the problems of non‐promotion, a school district near Rochester, New York, introduced the Transition Class (TC) as a placement alternative after kindergarten for students not ready for the Grade One program. Follow‐up evaluation investigated the effects of four treatment conditions over a six year period. Outcome variables included achievement, affective, and use of special services indices. Results confirm gradual blending of TC students with regular peers. Parental refusal of TC placement, however, resulted in a significant increase in subsequent need for special services.